Having a rose bush at home and that, in its flowering season, we find a spectacle of color and aroma is something that everyone wants. However, when you have this plant, as with any other, you are faced with pests and diseases of rose bushes.
Prevention, and knowing how to act when you notice the first symptoms is crucial, not only to prevent it from going to more and potentially damaging the health of the plant, but also so that there are no major ills. But what are those pests and diseases? Next we will talk about the most common ones.
Pests of rose bushes
We start from the basis that there are many pests that, to a greater or lesser extent, can affect rose bushes. The most common and with which you have to be more careful, are the following:
Aphids
We could say that it is the most common of all the plants you have in the garden, both planted and in pots. But above all, when you have rose bushes they go for them.
Aphids are green insects that measure no more than 3mm. However, they cause quite great damage because they feed on the sap of rose bushes and are capable of laying larvae on the leaves and stems, which does even more damage.
Not only do they proliferate around the plant, but they secrete a substance very similar to molasses, very sweet, which attracts ants and these, in turn, can cause the black fungus to appear.
To fix it, what you can do is fumigate the rose bushes. If you add soapy water, insecticides or nettle slurry, you will control it. Another option is to try to have ladybugs in the rose bush, because these will take care of the aphids.
Red spider
Another of the pests of rose bushes is this, the so-called red spider, although it has very little spider-like appearance. And it is an insect, between red and copper, that has eight legs and that feeds on the sap of the plant.
You will realize that you have this plague if you see that there are little spots that have lost color on the leaves of the plants. If that happens, you may already suspect that there is a spider involved.
The solution to the spider mite? Apply acaricides throughout the plant, especially in the part of the leaves (on both sides). Another option is to use mites but you have to control them so that there are no problems with them.
The false caterpillar
Is the call arge rosae, false caterpillar of the rose bush. Actually, if you see it, it will remind you of a wasp, and you would not go wrong. This wasp is called the "rose fly" and is characterized by having the yellow back with black dots.
What is this little bug doing? Well, eat the leaves of the rose bush? So, to eliminate it, we have no other than remove them by hand and then apply an insecticide. Neem oil is the best for these pests.
Saw fly
Another of the pests of rose bushes that does the same as the previous one is the so-called sawfly, Blennocampa phillocolpa. These make the leaves bend and roll because what they want is to put the larvae inside. The problem is that, when they are born, you are they begin to eat the leaves and kill the rose bush.
As before, you should also use insecticide like neem oil to remove them (and remove them by hand if you see them).
Rose diseases
As for diseases, as with pests, it also happens with these, there are many of them, but some are more common or common in rose bushes. Specifically, the ones you should worry about are:
Roya
Rust is caused by a fungus that appears when there is too high a humidity around the rose bush. You will notice that the rose bushes begin to have orange or yellow spots and even that there is a bulge on the underside of the leaves, or that they begin to dry out.
Regarding its treatment, the most normal thing is to use fungicides that can solve the problem. Another option is to remove all the leaves, both fallen and infected, and use copper oxide fungicide to protect the others.
Powdery mildew
Powdery mildew is another of the most common fungi that will attack rose bushes. And how can you recognize it? Well, through the white spots that will appear on the leaves, but you can also see it in the stems and even in the flowers.
This disease also appears due to humidity, and it increases when the temperature is warm, to the point that if you do not catch it in time, it can end up drying the leaves and making the rose bush unable to recover.
Its treatment is somewhat more radical, since you will have to prune all the parts that look like this and apply a fungicide to prevent the disease from spreading throughout the rest of the plant.
Mildew
If you notice that your rose bush begins to have white or yellow spots on the leaves, especially on the edges and tips, and that the underside is becoming more and more gray and even has like dust, without a doubt what you are facing is this disease.
If it is not caught in time, what it does is dry the leaves and kill the rose bush. That is why your solution is to prune everything that is affected and apply fungicides to avoid the problem (and to treat it).
Black spot
Another of the pests and diseases of rose bushes is the black spot, also known as the disease Marssonina rosae. It is a problem characterized by the fact that dark spots will appear on the leaves, which grow in size, making the leaf yellow first, and then turn black and fall off.
In this case what you should do is remove all damaged leaves, even those that have fallen to the ground, and treat it with copper oxide.
As you can see, there are many pests and diseases of rose bushes, but they have a solution if you catch them in time.
